MaMa to 3 bio and one adopted child- advocating for older and Special Needs (SN) adoptions!
"Orphans" ARE "Angels without wings"

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

21 days until...

November has come and gone-all too fast. How is it that time seems to go faster than it did a few years ago? We have so much to be thankful for, and I pray that we don't let our desires for worldly goods or to be the "best" overtake our thankful attitudes.We spent the month of November trying to prepare for winter's inevitable coming-mentally prepare that is :) We had a small Thanksgiving feast with Grandpa and Halmammie and a few other family members. Kaitlyn got to spend the day with cousins and had a blast. It was warm enough to play outside (with a child, is it ever too cold to play outside?) and only required wearing a light jacket. Kaitlyn still has not learned the American "art" of eating until one feels as if they will burst, she has not acquired the taste for pumpkin pie, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, or vegetables that aren't spelled c-o-r-n, or k-i-m-c-h-i. She still only eats chocolate chip cookies but feels 2 is more than enough and usually gives 1/2 of the second one to her daddy or tries to feed it to the dog. Some days I wonder how she manages to grow so fast but figure Korean rameyon, kimchi, seaweed, rice, and soybean paste must be more nutritious than we give it credit (we do throw in a McDonald's hamburger happy meal on occasion! lol).Today, 1 Dec, 2009 Miss Kaitlyn realized that in 21 days her sister will be here to visit. Then, it dawned on her that it is no longer November. "momma, what will we do for December?""lol, we won't do anything "for" December. We will do lots of things IN December""oh, I forget in and for"Kaitlyn has been living with us for 4.5 yrs and adopted/legally our daughter for 3 years and still she has days when she has to translate Korean / English in her little head. There are days she speaks better English than I and other days she seems to not understand a lick of English.She still eats Korean food for breakfast-nearly every day :). Today she had kimchi-miso soup with "bap" or rice. As I watched her eat I felt a TINY pange of sadness- thinking she would have loved a Korean family where she could get all the Korean food she ever wanted and as she asked why I was starring at her I told her this. She quickly looked at me and said "that would be nice but I like you the most and we need to remember God made this happen and He DOESN'T make mistakes!" I will be honest and say there are days I am glad her biological mother could not parent her and then there are days I feel sadness for her biological mother-she is missing out on such a wonderful little person!Kaitlyn says she can't wait for snow but complains when the temperature falls below 75, she misses her swimming pool and can't believe we closed it up for the winter "if we had just put a heater in it...". She looks forward to moving back to Texas where she can see her sister frequently but then states "oh man, I will not see Grandpa and Halmammie very much, or have ice cream from "N" store, I am so glad I don't have to make the choices of moving but Mom, you realize we have to live with your and dad's decisions, right?"Kaitlyn's teacher admits that Kaitlyn still has difficulty processing into English but also admits that this little wonder is quickly beginning to read above grade level and before the year is out will be above grade level in all areas. She is not smart because of anything I do as I don't make her do extra writing, reading, math, or anything else. She reads and asks to be read to on her own, she "writes" books on a daily basis and is learning math by helping in the kitchen, playing and reading piano music, and just living life. She loves ballet but wants it to be more challenging, she is always trying to improve on what she already knows and does and has a natural curiosity for life and the world around her.This will be Kaitlyn's 5th Christmas with us and all she wants is to have her family in the same room for one day-ok, I lie...she wants a sister and a brother, as in adopt 2 or 3 more children; she wants another bird to keep this one company, she wants a cat, another dog, some fish in a BIG tank, and a larger bike; she wants to go visit her friends and family in Korea, she wants to go to the beach, she wants to see her "yobo" who lives in Hawaii...but other than that she doesn't want much-lolI hope to get pics posted soon!